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IN THE MILITARY

25th Infantry will honor
Korean War vets at
Friday event

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The 25th Infantry Division, which on July 10, 1950, became the second Army unit to enter the Korean War, will honor veterans from that war Friday at Stoneman Stadium at Schofield Barracks.

"If they were in Korea and served, we want them here," said Army spokesman Maj. Stan Heath.

The event begins at 10 a.m. The Department of Defense's Korean War commemorative community flag will be raised, marking the start of a three-year observance.

Also scheduled: cake cutting, Black Hawk helicopter rappelling demonstration, band concert and a battle streamer ceremony.

Hawaii stands to gain $340 million in new military construction projects, including sizable amounts to upgrade much of the military's housing inventory in Hawaii, said Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

The money is contained in the new Military Construction Appropriations bill recently approved by both houses of Congress.

Inouye said the money will be used to repair and replace more than 400 military homes and dozens of barrack units.

The bill also includes $35.6 million for a new headquarters building for Adm. Dennis Blair, Pacific Forces commander, at Camp Smith.

A new wing at the Pacific Fleet's headquarters building will be named after Luther Jones, a chief aerographer (weatherman) who was captured and tortured by the Japanese in 1942.

Jones was stationed on Guam when the Japanese invaded the island. He hid in the jungle for nine months before he was captured. After holding out for two days, he died, never revealing information about other naval personnel still hiding on the island.

The new Luther Jones wing, built for $974,000, will add 2,137 square feet to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center at Makalapa's Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center. The center relocated from Guam to Pearl Harbor last year.

Moving Up

Army Corps of Engineers: Lt. Col. Ronald Light succeeded Lt. Col. Wally Walters as commander and district engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Honolulu District.
Schofield Barracks: Col. Raymond Mason replaced Col. Eddie Coleman as commander of the 25th Infantry Division's support command.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii: Master Chief Beverly Brennan, the Navy's senior enlisted woman and first female command master of an operational squadron, has retired after 30 years of service. She was command master chief of Special Projects Patrol Squadron Two at Kaneohe Bay.